Design and modeling of an optimized sensor for atmospheric electric field measurement

Author

Fort, Ada ; Mugnaini, Marco ; Vignoli, Valerio ; Rocchi, Santina ; Perini, Federico ; Monari, Jader ; Schiaffino, Marco ; Fiocchi, Franco

Author_Institution

Dept. of Inf. Eng., Univ. of Siena, Siena, Italy

fYear

2010

fDate

23-25 Feb. 2010

Firstpage

105

Lastpage

109

Abstract

In this work an optimized version of the field-mill sensor structure for atmospheric electric field measurements was presented. Both the mechanical structure and the electronic front-end, acquisition and control system are optimized in order to reduce the power consumption and to enhance the instrument metrological performance in term of sensitivity and frequency band. A solar power operated system was realized and tested. The developed system is also equipped with a GPS receiver, allowing data synchronization. This feature enables the implementation of a distributed measurement system for the monitoring of the atmospheric electric field.

Keywords

Global Positioning System; atmospheric electricity; meteorological instruments; GPS receiver; acquisition system; atmospheric electric field measurements; control system; data synchronization; electric field monitoring; electronic front-end system; field-mill sensor structure; frequency band; mechanical structure; power consumption; solar power operated system; Atmospheric measurements; Atmospheric modeling; Control systems; Design optimization; Electric variables measurement; Energy consumption; Frequency; Instruments; Mechanical sensors; Power system modeling; atmospheric electric field measurement; electric field monitoring; field mill;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Sensors Applications Symposium (SAS), 2010 IEEE

Conference_Location

Limerick

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-4988-0

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-4989-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SAS.2010.5439402

Filename

5439402